Page 10 of Going Dark

"I mean you could stay with me. I have a pull-out couch that you could crash on if you needed to."

"Oh, thank you, Tammy. That's so sweet but I think...," I pause not really wanting to tell everyone about Ace.

"You could always stay with me and Britney, right babe?" Joe looks too eager and Britney looks a little put out. They fall into a whispered conversation and I think I hear them mention something about looking for a third person to 'be with them'.

"Oh that's sweet too, Joe," I look to Britney who does not look like she is all about this three people thing, "And you too, Britney, but my boyfriend is actually staying with me. He and his sister are watching out for me during all this."

"You have a boyfriend?" Of course, Joe would be the one to push for more information. I just nod my head. The less I say the better.

"You never talk about him." Fuck! Even Britney is questioning me about this and when I look to Tammy she seems really interested too. Do these people not have anything better to do with their time than try to figure out if I am or am not dating someone?

"He's been away for a while. It's been an on-again-off-again kind of relationship."

"Was he in jail?" Tammy loses me. "Is that why he's been 'away'?"

"Did he have another family, like a wife and kids?" Britney asks. Who the hell have these people been dating?

"No, he was in the military and he recently retired."

"Retired? How old is this guy? I mean what can he really do for you if he's old enough to retire?" He would ask about the sex which is nonexistent for me.

Shit, I am not handling this right. Thankfully my teacher starts class and I say a grateful prayer that I've been saved from answering any more questions. All during class, I try to come up with answers for them and still pay attention to what my professor is trying to say. Today is one of my lighter days; all I have is this math class, so I won't have to worry about focusing much longer.

As soon as the teacher dismisses us I am up and out of my seat. But I'm not lucky enough to shake the three who want me to tell them all about my 'boyfriend'. I try to stave off questions until I walk through the doors and then all the chatter stops. Standing in front of the building is Ace, looking every bit the lead out of Top Gun. He is leaning up against a motorcycle in a dark leather jacket with sunglasses blocking his eyes. When he sees me his face breaks out into a smile and I hear Britney mumble to my side, "Damn, no wonder you didn't tell anyone about him. He is hot. I would want to keep him all to myself too."

"Babe?" Joe looks a little put out.

Before I can say or do anything else Ace is in front of me wrapping me up in his arms and giving me a hug. I automatically hug him back because I'm an idiot and it comes natural for me to hug back when I get hugged.

"You going to introduce me to your friends, babe?"

"Ace, this is Tammy, Britney, and Joe from my math class. Everyone this is Ace." He shakes hands but seems to linger a little longer with Joe.

"Her boyfriend." He states the obvious before he releases Joe's hand and goes to pull me into his side.

"Evie tells us you are retired. You look too young to be retired. You fuck something up and they force you to retire?" I bristle at the question Joe asks. What the hell kind of dick measuring contest are these two in and why?

Ace laughs and pulls me closer. "Special Ops is a game for a younger man than me. You don't do it for long." He explains. Like this makes all the sense in the world. "And you don't fuck up or you don't come back - at least not without a toe tag and a body bag."

All three of them look thoroughly awed. But Ace isn't finished. "Besides, I got tired of making my girl wait on me and worry about what kind of dangerous shit I was up to. It was time to come home and start a family." His hand goes to my stomach and I see three pairs of eyes follow him there.

I might kill him before he can get me home. I cannot believe that he just implied I might be pregnant. That asshole! The jerk! I knock his hand away from my stomach or at least try to but he has a tighter hold on me than I realized.

"We said we didn't know for sure if we were going to start a family right away - remember." I grit out. "I want to finish school first."

"No, I remember me telling you I'll take care of you and the baby so you wouldn't have to worry about choosing between being a mother and finishing your degree. Besides it isn't like we've been careful, love."

My mouth falls open and my face goes red. I want to turn and run from what he just implied but I also want to bury my face so I don't have to look at any of these people again. Ace takes the decision away from me by pulling me into him, "It was nice to meet you all. I'm gonna get my girl home and pamper her for the rest of the day. Bye."

He turns us around and walks to his bike. Under my breath, I ask him what the hell he thinks he is doing.

"Just putting my claim on you, babe." He takes his jacket off and puts it around me, putting my arms in the sleeves when I don't do it myself. He zips it up. "It still gets cool and I don't want you to be cold when we're on the road."

"I don't understand, Ace. Who are you showing off for? No one there was a terrorist or assassin or whatever?"

"I wanted to make sure Joe wouldn't be looking at your ass again. Now he understands I will bury him if he ever does it again. And if he doesn't, he soon will."

"What? Joe wasn't looking at my ass!" I whisper as I look back at the three people we just kind of left standing. Sure enough, Joe doesn't look happy. Out of the three, he seems the most miffed.

---